BACKGROUND Exploring, on the one hand, the literature stream of authenticity and brand authenticity, and on the other hand, that of firm growth, to further connect the two phenomena. AIM Researching whether firms can achieve both above-average industry growth and brandauthenticity METHODOLOGY The study entails 21 firms evolving in three industries (beer, cosmetic and food-processing). Brand authenticity is measured through a consumer survey, while growth is measured through a comparison of financial numbers in an official database (Amadeus). FINDINGS Companies can achieve both above-average industry growth rate and brand authenticity

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Into the Valley: Voices I Heard Along the Way contains a preface and a collection of five short stories. The preface discusses the use of voice as a technique to develop characters and create authenticity through elements such as sentence structure, diction, dialogue, and regional, cultural, and/or gender-specific affectations to make the words on the page become audible language in the mind of the reader. Each story is written with a unique voice that presents characters who struggle to come to terms with the truth and its various shades of reality.

This thesis explores themes of authenticity in the Aerie REAL branding campaign. In it, I explore how Aerie links notions of authenticity, expressed as a vocal denunciation of photo-editing techniques, with the ideal female body. To do this, I analyze Aerie’s branding materials (including social media posts on two different websites, as well as Aerie product photography) in context of its lack of photo-editing and other branding choices, including its choice of brand spokesperson. I consider these materials within a semiotic framework developed from the French school of semiotics, and analyze them both through this framework and a content analysis. I also consider concepts of Aerie’s brand personality. In this study I illuminate many of the tensions between Aerie’s explicit goals in its REAL campaign and what it has presented within the campaign. This has implications for future representations of women in advertising, as well as the use of authenticity as a brand position.

This self-study focused on how a physical education teacher worked to develop and enact four authentic assessment tasks with his 7th grade physical education students. The tasks were invented using standards for authentic assessment developed by the Center for Organization and Restructuring of Schools as a guide. Authenticity is explored over the course of a school year through the invention of the tasks, the enactment of the tasks, and the reactions and memories of eight students to the tasks. The study found that students often did not demonstrate a deep understanding of the content when completing the tasks or during the interviews. While decisions were made by the teacher in order to incorporate each of the standards for authentic assessment into the tasks, those standards related to value beyond school were most difficult to satisfy. A tension was described by the teacher between the time in cognitive activities and the time in physical activities. However, students did not describe this tension.

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Authenticity is a positive psychological construct often described as being true to oneself, and being authentic means displaying behaviour and expressing oneself in a manner that is consistent with the true self. The aim of this research was to explore managerial experiences of authenticity in the workplace. Purposive sampling was used to select five managers to participate in the study. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and data analysis revealed four main themes and related sub-themes. Key findings include that managers construct authenticity as being true to oneself, and that their authenticity is facilitated by contextually appropriate behaviour, the manifestation of multiple selves and open, structured work environments. Barriers to authenticity include interpersonal judgement, limitations on self-expression, leader power and authority, organisational culture and irregular work practices. Being authentic was found to have a positive impact on intrapersonal and interpersonal relations, whilst inauthentic behaviour had negative consequences at both levels. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Authenticity is a positive psychological construct often described as being true to oneself, and being authentic means displaying behaviour and expressing oneself in a manner that is consistent with the true self. The aim of this research was to explore managerial experiences of authenticity in the workplace. Purposive sampling was used to select five managers to participate in the study. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and data analysis revealed four main themes and related sub-themes. Key findings include that managers construct authenticity as being true to oneself, and that their authenticity is facilitated by contextually appropriate behaviour, the manifestation of multiple selves and open, structured work environments. Barriers to authenticity include interpersonal judgement, limitations on self-expression, leader power and authority, organisational culture and irregular work practices. Being authentic was found to have a positive impact on intrapersonal and interpersonal relations, whilst inauthentic behaviour had negative consequences at both levels. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

When exploring workplace phenomena such as well-being, it is important to recognise the context in which the experience takes place. For example, many contemporary jobs require people to interact with others or to work in groups. Therefore, the social dimension of the workplace well-being experience calls for recognition in research. Keeping the social context of work in mind, the PhD programme had two research aims in order to develop current understanding further on what well-being encompasses and what the best ways are to enhance it. The first aim was to explore relevant components of individual workplace well-being. The second aim was to explore the relevance of two antecedents of individual workplace well-being: Authenticity and social identification were conceptualized through an identity lens as identity-related resources, incorporating the personal self (authenticity) and the social self (shared social identity). Well-being experience accounts of managers, consultants, and staff from different work contexts were explored in two studies through questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups and then analysed with thematic qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that well-being descriptions from people who work are aligned with existing well-being concepts. Furthermore, the social aspect of well-being was indeed highlighted through the frequent use of indicators such as feeling connected with others, high interaction, and collaboration. In addition, depending on whose well-being was explored, different workplace well-being components were referred to in descriptions of the experience. The findings further suggest that the identity-related resources can act as positive, negative, or irrelevant resources for well-being depending on the work context (i.e. job role and work characteristics). This research indicates that the social aspect of the well-being is a prevalent part of the experience and is not just important in itself but is also for successfully working together with others. Furthermore, any action to improve well-being needs to be tailored to the characteristics of the work context and the workers themselves.